Auf Wiedersehen Sie dumme Kameraobjektiv!

I waved bye-bye to the fancy Canon Lens that broke my heart on Saturday. Cost a small mint to ship via UPS and I've no idea if I'll be reimbursed by the company I bought it from. They said they'd ship a replacement ASAP and I wonder if I fell for a false promise. *sigh*

I'm hoping to recieve a lens that actually works, in time for my next birding trip which is a pelagic out of San Diego, a couple of weeks from now. My fingers are crossed.

A Sunday's Birding

Tiny King of the Grasslands - Savannah Sparrow

Despite that I couldn’t get to sleep last night without an über load of Ibuprofen (Yes, here dwells self pity in action) we were up early for a tortilla breakfast and a fast getaway to Brewer Road. 

Vernal Pool at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge

The fast departure Don and I made to the Placer County birding haven yielded – nada. It was a dry winter so hoards of shorebirds and waterfowl did not line the pastures and dry waterways. Poop.

For no good reason, I decided we might as well drive north to the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge. There we did an ensie walk-about which yielded this little froggie on the right. Then we drove the auto tour which was far more fruitful.

There we found Vernal Pools in full golden bloom, bunches of bunnies and more male Ring-necked Pheasants than I’ve ever seen in one place. Don said they were released by some hunting club, as evidenced by our sighting only two hen pheasants, which are not released because only the male birds are fair game for hunters. If you are a pheasant it definitely pays to be a girly.

Ring-neck Pheasant on the go

Bunny Collage

We found three, count ‘em, three Snow Geese. Don thinks the geese had local family issues so decided not to head north just yet. The highlight of the refuge though was a beautiful Peregrine Falcon. Our view of the bird was spectacular and I must say I never saw anything like it before. The legs on the bird, as Don pointed out, resembled scales, such as you might see on a sculpture or other work of art; amazing creature. 

Branch Hopping Peregrine

Looking like Horus

Our next spot was the Fazio Wildlife Refuge where we saw White-faced Ibis by the sky load. Must have been migrating or loitering, can’t say for sure. Overall it was a pleasant enough day and Don was pleased to have added a good dozen or more birds to his annual bird list for 2007.

We celebrated with dinner in Downtown Sacramento at a Chinese buffet that is so authentic in its cuisine that the shrimp and fish dishes still have their eyeballs. I have been there a couple of times for lunch but always wanted to visit the place for dinner. What a treat! I ate like the waterfowl we saw during the day. I had crab, clams, frog legs and loads of other stuff I dished out of dim sum pots and at one point had no more idea what I was eating than had the Ibis I had viewed digging in the mud at the wildlife refuge. Ibis are luckier than me, when they dine it's always 'on the house'.

Last thing up, we stopped at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery for a look around. Saw a nice Belted Kingfisher, a Red-shouldered Hawk, numerous Common Mergansers and the usual lot of Double-crested Cormorants. Then Don spotted the crowning touch to the day; a River Otter, lazily making its way downstream. The otter surfaced, chewing with animation before diving much like a whale would - the last thing visible was its tail lashing the air as it submerged. Great ending to a good day of birding.

WAH!

I've waited years for the camera of my dreams to finally materialize - a digital that takes photos as sharp as camera film does. Then when I found that camera, I waited for the lens-of-my-dreams to materialize - a lens for taking long distance shots of wildlife. The lens was finally invented & it has auto focus and image stabilizer to steady the shot because I prefer hand holding my camera for wildlife shots.

So last week my dream lens arrived and today I took it south to Mercy Hot Springs to try it out on Long-eared Owl photos. THE LENS REFUSES TO FOCUS AT ANYTHING OVER 250 MM And its a 100 - 400 zoom! So 90% of the photos I took are out of focus and I could just cry I'm so upset. Yes, I know there are more important things to be upset over in this world - we are at war - but damn it, I am so disappointed. The camera will be boxed up and UPS'd on Monday. I'll be going on my next two vacations with my old, non-image stabilizing 100-300 zoom lens.

Imagine if these owl photo had been in focus! The photo on top I took at less than 300mm and at that focal length I almost got the lens to focus, but the lower photo was taken at 400mm.


Doesn't this baby look like a Chupacabra?